A British Airways Boeing 787-10 Dreamliner was caught on camera with an emergency evacuation slide deployed on the tarmac following a ground incident prior to departure.
The aircraft, registered as G-ZBLA, was preparing to operate flight BA94 to London Heathrow when the rear left door’s emergency slide inadvertently inflated while a catering truck was positioned alongside the widebody jet. Ground crew witnessed the unexpected deployment, which immediately brought pre-flight preparations to a halt while safety teams inspected the aircraft and handled the inflated slide.
Despite the ground disruption, the aircraft eventually departed and landed at London Heathrow (LHR) two hours and 30 minutes behind schedule.
However, the operational fallout from the incident continued to reverberate through the airline’s schedule. Due to the delay and necessary maintenance checks required following an accidental slide deployment, British Airways was forced to cancel the aircraft’s subsequent scheduled service, flight BA189 to Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR).
Inadvertent slide deployments, while rare, require specialized technicians to disconnect, repack, or replace the evacuation mechanism before the door can be certified for normal flight operations again.
